FLATTPRIZE announces partnership with the National Arts Club and UNTITLED Art Fair

Pioneered by FLATT Founder and Editor-In-Chief, Christina Lessa, FLATT Publisher and Philanthropist, Andrew Martin-Weber, and Former National Arts Club President and current Director of Arts and Humanities, Dianne Bernhard, the award will also provide a $1,500 supply stipend, meal service, and full club privileges.

NEW YORK, NY.- Founded in 2010, FLATT is a philanthropic arts platform that sponsors and celebrates creativity across all disciplines, including science, the visual arts, film, dance, performance, music, writing, and poetry. In addition to its quarterly eponymous print magazine, whose subjects range from Susan Sarandon, Cher and Bruce Weber to Mickalene Thomas and The Metropolitan Opera, FLATT recognizes talent, authenticity, and the rigor that drives the creative process by awarding an annual FLATTPRIZE.

FLATTPRIZE announced a new partnership with the National Arts Club and Untitled Art Fair, which will award an artist an unparalleled six-month, live-in residency at the National Arts Club in New York City starting in February 2014. Working closely with UNTITLED Director Omar Lopez-Chahoud, an esteemed panel of judges that includes EL Museo del Barrio curator Chus Martinez, Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago curator Naomi Beckwith, MoMA curator Christian Rattemeyer, and representatives from FLATT and the National Arts Club, the FLATTPRIZE honoree will be chosen from applications submitted by this years selection of galleries showing at UNTITLED during Art Basel Miami Beach.

Pioneered by FLATT Founder and Editor-In-Chief, Christina Lessa, FLATT Publisher and Philanthropist, Andrew Martin-Weber, and Former National Arts Club President and current Director of Arts and Humanities, Dianne Bernhard, the award will also provide a $1,500 supply stipend, meal service, and full club privileges. FLATT will be working closely with the artist, several top curators, and the National Arts Club to provide the winner with a full mentorship experience during their stay.

This is the third iteration of FLATTPRIZE, and in keeping with its mission to honor the multidisciplinary arts, the first two Prizes were awarded to a poet and filmmaker, respectively: In 2012, FLATTPRIZE honored Emily Chamberlain for literary achievement, and this years honoree was chosen within the category of Short and Experimental Film. The winner of this years prize will be announced at an event at the National Arts Club on October 9, also celebrating the new partnership with the National Arts Club for the next FLATTPRIZE.

Working with the National Arts Club on this residency program aligns with our mission to advance philanthropic support of the arts and is truly a once in a lifetime opportunity for emerging artists, explains Lessa. Given the National Arts Clubs dedication to the arts, the spectacular chance to work in NYC, and the significant support given to the artist in residence, it is an unprecedented award with historical significance. UNTITLED provides a unique platform from which to choose a recipient of this award because of its commitment to maintaining a strong curatorial presence within the fair. UNTITLED Director Omar Lopez-Chahoud has created an incredible aesthetic cohesiveness. His dedication to authenticity is obvious.

The National Arts Club houses one of the largest collections of early American 20th century art in the United States, and has a long-standing history of arts patronage, membership, and philanthropy, states Bernhard. I see this partnership as part of a larger plan for the future of the National Arts Club and foresee the artist residency as a way to bridge the gap between our traditions and the contemporary art world.